On the Presence of Centrospheres in Fungi. 
BY 
HAROLD WAGER, F.L.S. 
Lecturer on Botany in the Yorkshire College , Victoria University . 
With Plate XVII. 
HE presence of centrospheres appears to be of general 
X occurrence in the cells of various groups of plants, as 
well as in animal cells. Our knowledge of them in plant- 
cells is chiefly due to the researches of Guignard 1 , Biitschli 2 , 
Strasburger 3 , Schottlander 4 , Lauterborn 5 , and Farmer 6 . 
So far they have been found in plants chiefly in connexion 
with reproductive cells. They appear to have a very im- 
portant function in the life of the cell. The karyokinetic 
division of the nucleus is directly under their influence, in 
that they appear to exert an attractive force upon the 
chromatic segments and cause their separation into two 
groups. They have been, in consequence, called ‘ kinetic 
centres/ and they ought to be found in connexion with 
all nuclei during division. 
1 Compt. Rend. Acad, des Sci. 1891 ; Ann. des Sci. Nat. Bot. 1891, Ser. 7, 
T. XIV. 
2 Reference in Strasburger’s Verhalten des Pollens, &c., p. 57. 
3 Verhalten des Pollens, &c., Hist. Beitr. IV, 1892 ; Ueber die Wirkungssphare 
der Kerne, &c., Hist. Beitr. V, 1893. 
1 Cohn, Beitr. z. Biol. d. Pflanzen, 1892. 
5 Reference in Strasburger’s Wirkungssphare, &c., p. 107. 
6 Annals of Botany, Vol. viii, No. XXX, 1894. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. VIII. No. XXXI, September, 1894.] 
